From Michael Jackson’s sequined glove to the space-age helmets worn by Daft Punk, fashion and
music long have shared a connection.

A celebration to take place during the summer in Columbus will blend both worlds.

The three-day Fashion Meets Music Festival will take place in and around the Arena District —
with the Downtown neighborhood’s public spaces and parks as well as sporting and music venues
hosting concerts and fashion shows.

Onsite, too, will be zip lines, an Ohio State Fair-style gondola ride and food trucks. An urban
campground will host tent and RV campers.

“It’s a pretty big undertaking,” said Bret Adams, co-founder of the inaugural outing, set for
Aug. 29-31.

Organizers expect the privately funded festival to attract 120,000 people during the Labor Day
weekend.

Adams, a Columbus lawyer and sports/entertainment agent, came up with the idea last year in
Austin, Texas, while attending the South by Southwest music festival with the New Albany pop-rock
trio New Hollow, which he represents.

A natural fit, he said, was pairing such an affair with fashion — a cornerstone of industry in
Columbus, which, with headquarters for companies such as Abercrombie & Fitch and L Brands, has
the country’s third-highest concentration of fashion designers.

“We were looking for that differentiation,” Adams said, “and we found it with the fashion
angle."

According to a news release announcing the festival, 250 bands and 300 fashion and music brands
will participate.

Adams said yesterday that he couldn’t detail any of the musicians or brands but that
announcements will follow in the coming weeks on the festival website (www.fmmf.us).

Scott Stienecker, president of PromoWest Productions, is working with the festival to book three
nights of concerts in his Lifestyle Communities Pavilion — as well as an additional three in
McFerson Commons, a park across from Nationwide Arena.

“The way of the world right now is festivals,” said Stienecker, who for the past two summers has
doubled the capacity of the LC Pavilion for some shows to provide a “festival” setup for 10,000
guests in a parking lot behind the indoor-outdoor venue.

In addition, Nationwide Arena and Huntington Park will book acts.

For the couture element of the festival, the Greater Columbus Convention Center will serve as
ground zero. Exhibitors for both retail and music companies will set up there, too.

Some festival events will be free, with tickets for others ranging from $10 to $250.

Adjacent bars in the Short North will host smaller-scale festival concerts — an arrangement
similar to that found at South by Southwest, which last year attracted 155,000 visitors to Austin
(who spent $218 million).

The Columbus festival announcement follows on the heels of the city’s heightened efforts —
propelled by the enthusiasm of Mayor Michael B. Coleman — to increase its “swagger.”

Local ties between clothing and music that extend beyond central Ohio also could boost the idea:
An annual televised fashion show by Columbus-based Victoria’s Secret, for example, has paired
models with performances by A-list names (Bruno Mars and Rihanna among them) on the runway.

Dan Williamson, spokesman for the mayor, said the city doesn’t plan to contribute money to the
festival and hasn’t been involved in planning.

Still, he said, “Anything that we can do to capitalize on our assets is a great thing.”